


Shrines

by Capucine



Category: Sword Art Online
Genre: Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-29
Updated: 2014-09-29
Packaged: 2018-02-19 05:15:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2376029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Capucine/pseuds/Capucine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is one place in the world of SAO that religious people can find solace: the Cathedral. Kirito, however, is not there to find solace; he is there to wait for his fellow guild members with Ducker.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shrines

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy. This is based off a prompt.

It wasn’t often it was just Kirito and Ducker. They were sitting in the vestibule of a large building; it strangely appeared to be similar to some sort of Western church. On the inside, players took turns having their own religious ceremonies.

The religious members of the game made for a very small percentage, from Shinto to Buddhism to the teeny-tiny group of, what, two Christians? But that was how it was. People tried to bring something from their lives into the game.

Ducker smiled across at him, saying, “Hey, you think thief skills would come in handy here?”

Kirito glanced down at his folded hands, saying, “I don’t think you should steal from the… cathedral.” It wasn’t a word he often used, and it didn’t describe the building perfectly; shrines to different gods were erected throughout it. Cathedral seemed to make it solely Christian, which would be a bit silly in such circumstances.

“Oh, no, no!” Ducker said, eyebrows raised comically. “I just wondered if it would work here, that’s all. I’d never take anything.”

Kirito smiled just a bit. Ducker was a thief, but he obviously had his ethics. “That’s good, I suppose. How much longer do you think they’ll be in there?”

A strident voice came through the door, and the doors to the inner part of the building slammed open as a female player, decked out in purple full plate armor, came through them. “Just take it with you! Are you stupid?!”

A player with blue hair, spiked up all over his head, groaned as he lugged what appeared to be a bag full of things that clinked. He grumbled under his breath, a sophomoric sound to his whining. “Sure, I’ll just carry all this shit… wouldn’t want you to lift a finger… thinks she can boss me around…”

They both stopped abruptly at seeing Kirito and Ducker. 

“What are you doing?” Kirito asked, blinking. There seemed to be no adequate explanation for exiting a place like that with a sack full of stuff.

“None of your business,” the female player hissed, tossing her long blonde hair. The male player hefted the sack more steadily over his shoulder. When he did, a small gold item fell.

Ducker was the first to react. “You’re stealing from the shrines!”

The female player reacted quickly, seizing the front of Ducker’s armor. “What are you doing to do about it?”

Kirito was already up from his seat, saying, “Please put my guild mate down, and put the things you’ve stolen back. Players put them there for the gods and the help they may provide, not so you can take them.”

She glared, snapping, “What are you going to do about it?” She shifted towards him, dropping Ducker.

Kirito knew he was faced with a choice: reveal his status as a beater, and a much higher level player than his Guild knew him as, or stop the thieves.

He bowed his head. “You will bring bad luck on your heads, robbing shrines. I hope you can live with it.”

“That’s what I thought,” the female player sniffed, and she and her cohort headed out the door.

Ducker didn’t seem to dispute that they couldn’t have taken them on. “Some people are real jerks,” he grumbled, readjusting his breastplate.

Kirito sighed. “Yeah. You know…” It suddenly occurred to him. “If they took that stuff, there must be no one else in there… Where are Sachi and Tetsuo?”

Ducker’s eyes widened, and he opened the door to look in. Candles flickered, and some of the gifts still at the shrines shone a bit. But there wasn’t a single person in sight.

Kirito felt a bit of an uncomfortable thing in his gut. But he gestured to Ducker with a sigh. “This is a no kill zone; they can’t have gone far.”

They’d barely stepped out of the vestibule before they ran into Sachi and Tetsuo. Relief spread through Kirito; even though recently, Sachi had been less concerned about dying, he still worried about her a lot.

“Where were you guys?” Ducker asked, throwing up his hands in the air. “We were waiting for you!”

Tetsuo laughed a bit, and when Sachi turned her head, there was a great amount of hair things bedizened into her short locks. A salamander clip, what looked like a meatball reproduction, and a silver fox.

“Sorry, guys, we went out the other door… we didn’t know you were even waiting,” Tetsuo said, scratching the back his neck.

Sachi blushed, touching the hair adornments. “I… Tetsuo thought they looked good. Do they?”

Kirito was about to reply nicely, but in an almost slaphappy way, Ducker laughed and said, “Tetsuo is the example of why only girls should pick out hair stuff.”

She blushed, and Tetsuo floundered a bit. “Well, I thought it looked good!”

“That’s the problem!” Ducker laughed goodnaturedly.

Kirito just smiled. He would lodge a complaint with one of the big guilds about the stolen shrine offerings; for now, he just enjoyed being in a happy group.

“Next time, you choose! We’ll see how you do!” Tetsuo said, slapping Ducker’s back.

“You’ll see, I’ve got better taste than you!” Ducker said.

Sachi was laughing, and looked over at Kirito without that worried look in her eyes; it made him smile back.

It was good to be here.


End file.
